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It was a dry Cotswold Clouds this year and most competitors were able to see the top of the majority of the sections. It was a competitive and closely fought event though. Crooked Mustard was on form but the event was decided on Jerrys and the Special Tests.
Despite the dry conditions Mustard was on form this year, entertaining the usual crop of spectators. Most of the Class Eights went clear but otherwise only Scott Aldridge in the Class 7 Smart Roadster got over the rock step and went on to clean the old hill.
Hat Trick of ACTC wins for Duncan Stephens who pipped Philip Thomas on Test Times
Philip Thomas only dropped one mark but lost out to Duncan Stephens for the overall win on Special Test Times Photo by Bryan HuntContinue reading “Mechanics Trial”
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The Cotswold Clouds once again lived up to its reputation, attracting a full entry of 80 cars to tackle its challenging sections under the eyes of an extremely professional organising team.
Winner Aaron Haizelden, in his Class 5 Reliant Scimitar, was the only car outside of Class 8 to climb the notorious Crooked Mustard near the start of the event and thoroughly dominated the rest of the days proceedings. It was difficult, even for the specials, and only seven of them reached the summit. The old hill took its toll on the machinery and the dead car park soon started to fill up. Alex Wheeler had his front suspension part company with the rest of his Nova. John Cox broke the diff on his Porshe 924 and even Dean Partingtons ultra reliable DP Wasp broke its transmission as did Matt Johnstons Cannon.
Across the road at the top of Crooked Mustard lay the summit of Axe, another long standing section. Competitors emerged covered in the glutinous mud which laid in the sections deep gulley. This clung to the wheels and underside of the cars, slowing many of the cars in the lower classes, some to a complete stop.
Neither of the traditional sections at Nailsworth Ladder or Ham Mill across from the Bear Inn at Rodborough caused to much trouble but that was soon to change.
Bryans by Kevin Sharp
Bryan’s is an unsurfaced track in the woods and got muddier and muddier as the day went on. Some in the higher classes couldn’t even get to their restart let alone pull away from it. Aaron Haizelden picked up his first fail of the day here and even he only got to the two, one mark further than Dave in his similar car.
Aaron and Dave continued their domination when they cleaned the short, sharp, Merves Swerve, a feat only repeated by Ray Ferguson (Liege), Dave Middleditch in the Top Gear Dutton Phaeton and ACTC Secretary Bill Bennett in his MG J2, the only Class Two car in the event.
Having raised his recently acquired Beetle after the Exeter Lee Peck tackles the blast through the trees at Climperwell. Stroud had drafted in some heavy machinery before the event to improve the section. Photo by Calvin Samuel Click Here for more of Calvins Work
The innocuous looking Bulls Bank restart is there to trap the unwary on its polished stones and this year its victims included Mark and James Smith. You can view their on James InCar Video.
Wicked Juniper by Kevin Sharp
Jerrys the penultimate section, a very muddy climb through the trees. Then there was Talbots Terror with headlights necessary in the gathering gloom for the early numbers and in the proper dark for those running towards the back. Aaron Haizelden dropped one here but it didn’t matter, he was hands down winner of this years Cotswold Clouds.
My Mechanics Trial from the passenger seat by Peter Mountain
It was Jim Mountains turn to drive on Stroud&DMC’s Mechanics Trial. With Peter relegated to the passengers seat of his immaculate Class 8 Dellow he had the chance to turn reporter.
Peter in the passengers seat as Jim makes smoke on the Greenway lane restart. (picture by Dave Cook)
Jim’s not done the Mechanics Trial before so we decided it was his turn for a drive. A 5.30am start got us to the venue well in time to unload and have an excellent breakfast roll from the mobile caterers. I noticed that the Wall family had stirred up their normal line up as well with nobody in their usual driving seats and Eric marshalling.
We had a fairly uneventful trial, except that the engine cut out and then recovered in two critical places, so I have to have a close look at the fuel system next weekend. There were quite a few delays and we ended up running about 2 hours late. However, it was a glorious sunny day and the delays gave us time to get the refreshments eaten.
The restarts were real tests and congratulation to Simon Woodall in getting off nearly all of them to take the honours in class 8.
Falcon’s Simon Groves passengered Emma Robiliard in her excellent 1st in class 4 and 2nd overall.
Stuart Roach had a grand event to win overall in his HRG, which was the only class 5 car in the event.
The Stroud & DMC do a very good job organizing two classic trials so close together and nearly all on different hills. On the Mechanics you don’t get the classics like Nailsworth Ladder and Crooked Mustard but the club gave us a good variety of decent hills with some stoppers to test the cars and drivers.
I hope that the crews of the Jago Jeeps and Sierra enjoyed themselves; it is hard to think of any more unsuitable vehicles to go classic trialling with. A couple of the old lanes had us leaning at crazy angles, it must be far more difficult in a wide softly suspended saloon car.
With only 1 class 5 car and no class 6 cars entered I wonder where all the class 5 and 6 cars have gone.
Classes 3, 7 & 8 are the numerically dominant classes and most of the cars in these classes are based on running gear that has been obsolete for a long time now.
I’m looking forward to the Kyrle in 2 weeks; a trial that I’ve not done before.
Best Overall
Stuart Roach (HRG)
2
Class Winners
1
David Haizelden (VW Golf GTi)
8
2
Emma Wall (Austin Seven)
12
3
Stuart Deacon (Ford Escort)
12
4
Emma Robilliard (VW Beetle)
6
7
Pete Hart (Marlin)
9
8
Simon Woodall (VW Buggy)
8
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